


Mother of Pearl Bones

by BubbaKnowlton



Series: Mother of Monsters/Echidna AU [9]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Animal Death, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Mpreg, Past rape/noncon, Violence, mother of monsters/Echidna AU, non explicit past rape/noncon, nonconsensual drug use, rathtars - Freeform, slavery/unlawful pet trade, xeno/alien Hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 06:12:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11075664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbaKnowlton/pseuds/BubbaKnowlton
Summary: The Mother of Monsters/Echidna!Hux AU is created by the_Archivist and IWhile going down to a planet side meeting, Hux is captured by the sons of an exotic pet collector, who wants him to be the star of his collection. Due to the collector threatening to kill the one child that snuck down with him, he must go along with what he says.-Brendol Hux had never intended to have a son, but in order to escape the hands of a black market creature trader, he must go along with what the man's prized pet says, although she is blinded by her grief for her deceased children.





	Mother of Pearl Bones

**Author's Note:**

> ITS HERE Y'ALL this monster of a fic is h e r e  
> Where u guys get to learn all about Hux's alien mom n what the Heck is up w that  
> This is what Archivist n I have dubbed the 'collector fic' because of it being around creature collectors  
> Italic sections are past events  
> Also I know the noncon tag is there but it is never described, or is only a threat in Hux's case, so don't worry about that !  
> Title comes from the song Mother-of-Pearl Bones/Raden no Hone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrQcyrCUPzI

**Mother of Pearl Bones**

_She was led out to the arena, the Master pointedly displaying a stun device in his hand. It was disguised as some kind of wand, would appear to just be a bejeweled and frivolous pointer in the hands of a salesman, but delivered a nasty shock strong enough to take down any monster that passed through his greedy hands. Anything to fill his collection, his pocketbook. She hated that she was his most valuable monster, who earned him credits by the thousands. She wasn't sure exactly why she was being brought out. He hadn't said anything but to make sure her clothes were secure and she was to follow._

_If it was some sort of public breeding spectacle, the Master wouldn't have fretted so much over making sure the clothes covered every bit of her body, that her mask covered her mouth and nose and the filter was in proper working order. He would have removed all her clothes and pulled her out to a whooping audience, left her at the mercy of some heat-addled beast as he went to collect tips and offer a close-up once the display was over for an additional price. He wouldn't look so smug._

_She did not like the Master when he was smug. He got a horrid gleam in front of his cruel acquaintances, whenever he made a sale that was ripping a new collector off, when he was getting a great deal, when he was tormenting his collection, ones that could be replaced. He was terrible to the collection when he was like this._

_Maybe... she started to shift, stopping to change form into a guard, so she could sneak away back to her tank. The Master spun around, moving a dial on his device and jabbing her in the stomach. She yelped, her shift reversing back to her previous state. It was on its lowest setting, but the shock still hurt, painful enough to stop her shifting._

_Now she was very confused. The Master never hurt her when she was about to be in front of clients, contacts. Why was she being brought out if not to be seen by anyone but the Master? He kept her locked in her tank next to his personal lounge. He could see her whenever he wished, why bring her towards the arena, outside?_

_He led her to a doorway, instead of all the way to the arena. She stepped in when he gestured. It was an empty room, with one wall clear to reveal the arena outside. The door closed behind her. She stood there for a minute, unsure of what to think. Then she went to the viewport. The arena floor was empty, but the stadium itself was full of all sorts of people. She couldn't see any particulars, too far away to make out individual faces. She could see the floating scoreboards just fine though._

_Ah, so there was going to be a fight today. Why would the Master want her to watch? She'd only been with this specific owner for a few years, she didn't care about watching the collection fight itself or colleagues' collections. It wasn't like she could be a contestant, the Master would lose a source of income if he did not have her to produce more for him to... to... Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure what the Master did with her monstrous children. He'd taken away her youngest just a week after it was born, much sooner than he usually did. He always took them away. The arena, no-_

_"I present to you, a most special occasion!" The Master's voice poured out into the arena, through a speaker in the room. "As you all know, I am in possession of an Allmother and its offspring! Today- Today I will show you a fight for the ages! A few choice members of my collection, versus the Allmother's remaining brood!"_

_Remaining? She pressed her gloved hands against the glass, anxiety spiking._

_"Open the gates! I give you- the Allmother's children!" On the scoreboard it read 'Collection v. Brood'. Looking out at the grounds, she could see her children start pouring out into the arena. Her older children looked tense, ready to fight. The younger ones stumbled around, nervous and clinging to each other. There was a fraction of them missing, and many were already injured, missing limbs or covered in scars._

_"And now- our first fighter from my collection! An Acklay from the waters of Vendaxa! She only comes on land to hunt, and hunt she will! Let her loose!"_

_She screamed, pounding on the glass as the creature ran out into the arena, giving a high pitched cry. It charged at the group of children, and not all of them scattered quickly enough. One of its claws impaled a child, and another was swallowed whole. She was still screaming, tears blurring her vision, as the older children managed to kill the creature after a brutal fight._

_"Aww, there she goes! Our next contestant is a lovely, hungry little lady called an Utapaun flying squid. Don't worry, there is a force field over the arena so that she will not harm you. Do not be frightened if she tries to eat you. Release!"_

_No one could hear her through the glass._

_"Darn, I really liked that girl. Our next challengers are a trio of rathtars! How did I manage to transport these beasties? Well, you'd have to ask my supplier. Oh, you can't. They're dead." He laughed, and the spectators laughed with him. "Let 'em roll!"_

_She sunk to her knees, weeping._

_"Ooh, look at that! That's 4 points for the brood, and well... a sure win for the collection! Those two can keep eating. Once they get back in their box they'll go to their tank. That's all for today, folks! Have a good one!"_

_Eventually, the door to the room opened, and the Master pulled her to her feet. "How was that? Come on." He grabbed her arm roughly, and she did not fight back, sobbing as he dragged her out of the room. A group of his colleagues were waiting down the hall. He stopped in front of them, let go of her, and then stood close to them. His arms crossed, wand held in hand like a scepter, that awful smirk on his face._

_His nearest friend handed him something. "Do you know what this is?"_

_She looked up. Seeing a familiar squirming mass of pink flesh and six legs, she shifted herself a proper set of vocal cords and cried out, "My baby!"_

_"That's right. It's right here. Do you want this thing back?" She nodded desperately, gaze frozen on her baby. "Well... My sweet, sweet Temperance. You've been a bad creature. What the pfassk is this useless thing? How am I supposed to make money if I send this fleshy piece of garbage out into the arena?! This is like a treat! A free tidbit of fat and some thin bones! It can't even stand on its own!"_

_"It's only a week old!"_

_"It's a waste of time! All of those things were a waste of my time! A waste of time, food, space, money! Useless things, the lot of them!"_

_Her baby was still squirming, not knowing what was going on. It didn't have any eyes or ears. She wanted to snatch it out of the Master's hands, but that wouldn't help._

_"You're going to give me more monsters! Monsters that are worth my time, worth my tanks, worth my supplies, worth my money. Things like this? Useless!" He tossed it back to a canine accompanying one of his peers. The salky hound snatched it out of the air, beginning to devour it. Temperance screamed again, and darted forward. The Master jammed the wand into her stomach, the shock much higher than earlier. She collapsed to the ground, two hands catching herself, the other two arms wrapped around her stomach._

_"Temp- no, no, you didn't get that name from me. Peran... Per... Percy... yes, that's good. My dear Percy, you're going to make me so much money. If you have good monsters, they'll last longer, won't die against basic collection beasts, and you'll be able to keep them." He kicked her. "Get up. You're going back to your tank."_

-

"Is that him?" The sniper asked his companion. "The redhead who just came off that ship?"

His companion looked over. The ship was very clearly First Order. "Yes, you dolt! That's Starkiller! Shoot him, hard track."

"Track?"

"Tranquilizer! Bastard's a military man, gonna take a heavy hit to keep him out for all of transport."

"Oh, a heavy hitter." He picked up a long dart and inserted it into his blaster. He aimed for the General and fired. It was a clean shot, and within a few seconds the man was slumping to the ground.

"Go, go!"

-

Dragging the General back was harder than expected. For one, he was so tall it was hard to carry him properly. Two, he was heavier than expected. The sniper had to carry him, and he could have sworn he could feel something moving by the General's neck. His companion told him it was just his paranoia. They made it to their ship and he was all too happy to dump the General in the back and tie him up.

"Alright, we're going to go home and get him prepared for sale, Snip."

"We actually got him!"

"Well- we still have to run DNA tests. But if he's the real deal, we're going to be rich! We'll be able to help Father with his collection by affording new stock and supplies, and he'll be so proud of us! Do you have any idea how much people will pay for this guy?"

"A lot?"

"He blew up the Hosnian system. Boy, I'd pity him but he doesn't deserve it."

"Think Dad'll want to see him, Snatch?"

"Stars, no. A human? Father doesn't want to look at a human. He barely even knows about this. We'll just bring him in, use the scanner, sell him, and hand Father the money."

-

The General stayed knocked out the whole ride back to their father's estate. The brothers hauled him into the creature processing building, Snip getting his upper half, Snatch holding his legs. Once inside, they laid him on top of an examination table and grabbed the DNA tester. Snatch got it started on, and Snip looked over the General. He noticed movement and pulled open Hux's shirt. Something brightly colored scuttled out of view.

"Kriff! I told you there was something!"

"What? You're going mad. Did you take your meds?"

"...I don't think so."

"Whatever. Here we go." Snatch hit a button on the device and a little needle poked out. He injected it into a vein on Hux's neck for a few seconds, and then pulled it out once the screen made a match using DNA from the white blood cells. "Alright... this is him! We've got General Hux!" Something else popped up on the screen. "Huh... 'nonhuman DNA'...? What? If this is him, why isn't he human?"

Snatch clicked for the device to match the DNA to the species database. After a few seconds, a name popped up. "Allmother..." His eyes widened. "He's an Allmother!"

"Um..."

"Call Father, get him down here! Never mind selling this guy, we're going to be rich by keeping him!"

A gruff voice came from the doorway, "Keeping who?" The brothers looked over to see their father standing there. "What's a human doing on my bench? Shit- that's that First Order quack."

"Father, he's an Allmother!"

" _An Allmother?_ " The man came forward and snatched the device from his son. Reading the screen, his eyebrows rose. "Golly, lads, he really is a Queen!"

Snip wasn't really sure what they were talking about. "What's an Allmother, Dad?"

"How do you not know- no, nevermind. You went to that school while Snatch learnt the business. An Allmother is a collector's wet dream. This fella right here..." He grabbed Hux by the hair and lifted him a bit. "These sons of bitches can breed with virtually anything, produce new creatures every batch, the likes of which no one's ever seen. They breed armies of monsters."

"Monsters... Like little orange ones that can hide in a shirt? Snatch, I told you I saw something on him!"

"Shit- he's got one on him?! Snip, strip him! Find what you saw!" Snip nodded and gladly started to pull off pieces of Hux's uniform. Sure enough, after pulling off his undershirt, he spotted what he'd seen. An orange, star shaped creature, with a big blue eye in its center. He grabbed it, and pulled, but it didn't budge. 

"Blasted thing is stuck!"

"Use your knife, boy!"

Snip pulled out his knife and went to cut it off, but it immediately let go, popping free. "Got it!" He handed it to his father, along with the knife. 

"Huh, peculiar little creature."

"Looks like a tiny Conjeni, without the fur."

"I'd say more like a Plavonian starfish." Their father inspected the eye closely. "It's got its mother's eye. Matches his hair, too. Definitely his. Alright, Allmothers are a high maintenance creature. Snatch, remember what they need to be cared for?"

"Nutrient rich meals, assurance that they can care for their children for at least a week after delivery, minimal stress right before breeding, with no stress and good prenatal care during pregnancy. To prevent breeding, they need protective clothing. Also-"

The man cut him off, "Good. Snip, you'll be in charge of changing him into his new uniform. I have Allmother gear laying around. It might be a bit tight, but it'll do for now. Gag him before putting on the mask and tie up his wrists and ankles, then chain him to the table once you're done. Keep him under until I say so. Snatch, you'll help your brother. I'm going to get a container ready and do further inspection on this juvenile monster."

-

After taking a holograph of the creature, he pulled out a datapad. He started a fresh page of observations. The creature heavily resembled a Plavonian starfish. It had an eyeball in the center of its body, pale blue in color. Its body was predominantly orange, with red along the sides of its arms, and yellow hints on the top. Around it's eye the skin was pinkish, paler in color to the rest. Underneath it was pink, covered in little tendril-like suckers. There was a little hole, a mouth of sorts. It was roughly the size of his palm, the tips of the legs extending just a tad farther.

The eye looked a bit watery, terrified. He kept that observation out of the info, and set his datapad down. He pulled at the creature's arms, bending them until the creature squirmed in pain, and recorded how far it had gone before then in his information. He prodded around the eyeball until it blinked completely, and made note that it was capable of doing so. Poking at the mouth did nothing, it only tightened shut further. 

"Interesting creature, aren't ya'? Do you miss your mother?" Its eye widened slightly. He jotted down that it understood words. "Well, you'll be staying with me for a while. Because if I don't have you, how in the world will I get your dear Mum to obey me? He thinks he can act like a human, thinks he's got a free will, but Allmothers are the galaxy's best copycats." It looked scared again. "If there's one thing my uncle taught me, is that Allmothers will do anything to protect any of their children, no matter how big and complex... or how small and simple."

It squirmed uneasily. "Well, little one, you're my bargaining chip. Bargaining star, really. In order to keep you alive and unharmed, he's going to do anything I tell him to. And when he starts having more of you creatures, I'll use them, as well. What should I breed your mother with first? I need to break him in, but once I do... How about a rathtar? That'll be a real spectacle. I can film it and send copies, and the babe that emerges will be powerful, I'd think."

He picked up the knife his son had given him and inspected it. "Hmm, sharp. It should do the job. Don't worry, little one, if your mother behaves, you'll only be injured twice. You can regenerate, it won't hurt that badly."

-

"Oof- karking hells, these clothes are tight on him."

"Well at least the stomach is stretchy. He's not as thin as I thought he'd be. No muscle here." Snatch jabbed at Hux's stomach. "You know- it really rather looks like he's had a lot of offspring before. All sorts of stretch marks, leftover weight- You'd think from a military man he'd be all firm, but he's soft."

"Stop feeling up the war criminal."

"I'm not! I'm just lugging him up and trying to get a shirt on him! Kind of hard _not_ to feel him, and Father will appreciate the tip that he's had other children before."

" _Kriff,_ these pants are tight. Lift him up so I can pull them on."

"Just slide him partway off the table." A mistake, he almost slid off all the way. Snatch grabbed him and kept him from falling until Snip managed to get the dark grey pants on. "Huh, he's got a nice ass."

"Stop!"

"It's an observation. He's got a little waist, though. That's not good for rearing monsters. We might have to get a medical droid for him with hips like that."

"What's his ass got to do with your so called 'observations'?"

"Well, clients will want to see him more. Sick fucks love seeing Allmothers deliver. If he's got a relatively attractive human body, it means more people will show up, and more people would buy a tape of it. You know how high the egg-laying demand is?"

"No. Why would I want to?"

"It's high."

"Why do you know this?"

"Father showed me! It's good for business if we provide film involving what people want to see!"

"Gross."

"Yeah, I'm aware. I didn't want to know either. Okay, we got the gloves, socks, pants, shirt... What else is there, Snip?"

"Gag and mask."

"I'm no good with knots. You tie the gag. I'll secure the mask." Snip nodded and grabbed a strip of cloth. He easily tied the gag around Hux, securing it and making sure he wouldn't be able to spit it out. Then Snatch slipped the mask over his mouth and nose, tightening the straps and making sure they wouldn't slip at all. "Alright, I think that's good."

"We don't have to hide the rest of his face?"

"Do you see any strange reproductive openings there? No."

"We covered his hands and feet!"

"The gloves prevent him from using his nails to scratch himself, his kids, and us. The socks are just for comfort."

"Oh."

-

Everything felt groggy and terrible as Hux woke up. He vaguely identified the feeling as being worn out drugs, remembering from his early training days in the academy when they'd learned to resist common tranquilizers. Getting a new, stronger dose left them feeling like this. There was a pinch on his neck and suddenly the groggy feeling was fading away. Opening his eyes, he could see two people standing over him, one holding an empty syringe. 

"Did that work, Snatch?"

"Yes, Snip. Why would the tranquilizer-flushing medication not work? Did you think I injected another tranquilizer? I'm not _stupid._ "

"Why are you so mean? I'm just making sure. You know nonhumans sometimes need different mixtures or doses of things."

Snatch undid the knot on the gag, since their father would be coming in to talk to him, and pulled it off. "Hmm, you're right. Well- Hello, Starkiller. How are you feeling?"

Hux took in their appearances. The two looked relatively human, but were slightly too pale, in a way where they were almost translucent, their veins visible through the skin. Their eyes were drooping, despite them being obviously wide awake. Their brown hair was straight and limp, with a wet gleam. Hybrids of some kind, then. Human and something. He committed their faces to memory, in case he needed to have Ren hunt them down.

"He's not answering, Snatch." The taller of the two said to the other. "Did you mute him somehow?"

"No. He's just refusing to speak. He might be a creature, but he's intelligent."

"How do we get him to talk, then? Dad wants to speak with him. Break him in."

"Oh, he's an Allmother. He'll talk when he sees Father's bargaining chip." Hux kept that name noted. He'd never heard it before. Perhaps that was the name of his species. His father had never actually told him the name.

"That creature? Are you sure?"

"Trust me, Snip. The best way to get an Allmother to cooperate is to bring their babies on the line. They've got the strongest maternal instinct you'll ever see. Would _destroy worlds_ if it meant saving even one of the smallest, simplest critters. Nothing means more to them than their children."

"I was alone when you captured me." Hux growled. He wouldn't be tricked by lies, even if he already felt anxious at just the thought that one of the kids were in danger. 

"Really? You didn't know you had one of those creatures under your shirt? Little orange thing, five points, big blue eye? Pink suckers-"

" _This thing._ " A deeper voice cut off Snatch. The three of them looked over. Snatch grinned seeing it was it his father, while Snip just stayed tentative.

The man held up said 'thing' like one would hold a medal. It had tears falling from its eye.

So it wasn't a trick. Hux struggled against his restraints. "Cypress!" He couldn't do more than lift his upper body slightly off the table. Cypress shut its eye, tears leaking out. He tilted Cypress forward and backward, making the leg he was holding it by bend uncomfortably. "Let them go! It's me you want, not-"

"Oh no, you're misunderstanding, General. I want _both_ of you. I can't have one without the other. If I were, say... to let you go, you would bring down all your might on me until you got this babe back in your hands. If I let it go, it would die out in the open and you would be free to fight against me as much as you wanted. With both... With both of you, though, I get a compromise." He drew the knife. He flipped around in the air a few times, then grabbed it and held it close to Cypress' eye.

"No!"

"If you don't do exactly as I say, someone will get hurt. Hold him down." Snip stepped forward and pushed down on both of Hux's shoulders, while Snatch pressed down on his legs. They made sure to keep themselves in the edge of Hux's sight, so he could see their father clearly.

"Don't hurt Cypress! They haven't done anything wrong, I have!"

"You see, General, that's another misunderstanding. I don't care whether you're a saint or a sinner. What you are is an Allmother. You'll be given utmost care if you behave, and in return, I'll breed you for monsters until the day I die, in which case Snatch, my boy, will take over. Since my son has informed me that you've clearly _bred_ before, you know what I want."

"If you think I'll have children for you you're wrong-"

"I thought you'd say that. Now, if you refuse to cooperate, I'll be forced to take drastic measures. For example: I may have to do this-" He took the knife and sliced off a tip of Cypress' leg, a good inch of it. Its eye shot open, and it started thrashing. "Or, I may have to do this-" He forced Cypress to still and jabbed its eye with the knife, leaving a red spot. It went back to thrashing, blinking madly with more tears. 

"Stop!"

"And if you still refuse to cooperate, I'll have my boy Snip slice your creature into so many pieces it won't be able to regenerate, and then we'll burn those pieces to make sure."

Hux strained against the two, but couldn't get free. "Please, stop! Stop hurting them! I'll cooperate! Just stop, please!"

"An Allmother, begging before me. Never thought I'd see the day. I've got a tank ready, sons, haul him up." Snip and Snatch forced Hux to his feet, each holding his arms. "Alright. Come on, Allmother, follow me to your new home. It's nice, I promise. If you try anything- I'll let you off with a warning gift."

"What gift?"

"I'm pretty sure eyes don't regenerate. It'd be a shame. Such a pretty blue is lovely with the orange- I'd hate to pop it out and give it to you."

"I won't let you hurt them anymore!" 

"Then you'd best do as I say. If you're good, maybe you'll get a reward. Say... behave for the rest of the day, and while a few colleagues of mine visit, then I'll consider letting you feed your babe." He tossed Cypress into the air, and caught it as it came back down. "Hmm... if you misbehave, I wonder how long this little star can go without eating? A few weeks? A month?"

"Cypress..." It squeezed its eye shut, and Hux got a series of code images in his head that was clearly a 'save me' plea. "You're going to be fine, darling, I promise. Even if- Mum will do whatever he can, Cypress, don't be scared. I'm here, I'm right here."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Aww, isn't that sweet, little one? Your Mum would do anything to protect you. I'm a fair man, that 'anything' will keep you alive and well. As long as he keeps his word, hmm? Let's see if your Mum keeps his promises."

-

His 'new home' ended up being a large tank. It had a bed in it that looked rather nice, and a closed off section with a curtain for an entrance that had a tub, sink, mirror, and a toilet inside. The bottom of the tank was covered with some kind of cheap carpeting, obviously intended to be removed easily considering how it didn't go under the bed. The thick walls were purely clear, and the top of the tank was sealed save for a hole to a filter. There were lights on the top, and the door that he was pushed through was sealed completely shut. 

Surprisingly, he could hear well through the walls. "Do you like it? I had some help move in the stuff. Got a nice bed and tub for you to deliver in, Allmothers need stuff like that. It's comfy, too, so you'll feel nice and cozy when you're aching from carrying monsters. Bet they didn't have that on your warship."

The beds on the _Finalizer_ were notoriously not that comfortable, and the only baths were in the medbay. "I was expecting some kind of dark cell, so I'm surprised."

"You're the most valuable member of my collection, I'd never put you in a cell. Allmothers don't thrive in _cells_. Only an idiot collector would put an Allmother in a cell. Alright, I need to give you a name. General 'Starkiller' Hux. What's your first name?"

"Armitage." Normally he would refuse to answer that question, but the knife was still close to Cypress and he wasn't going to risk anything. "It means hermit."

"Not a good name. Sounds nice, but it's... Bad."

Snip rolled his eyes. "Like you know anything about names, Dad. Our names are verbs."

"Snip and Snatch are wonderful names, my boys. They've got meaning. Now, Snatch, what do you think we should call our Allmother?"

"We should just go with Starkiller. People'll love hearing that we've got Starkiller. Besides, it matches his kid. Starkiller, starfish- two stars."

"The stars of my collection. Alright, Starkiller it is. Good thinking, son."

"Thank you, Father!"

"Now, we need to prepare. A few friends are coming over in a few hours, so this place needs to be cleaned up. I was going to show off some select articles, but now that we have Starkiller, that won't be necessary."

-

_Temperance traced the folds of her blanket, frowning. She wasn't happy anymore, hadn't been since all her children were killed three times over. Every time she thought she'd been doing well, the Master would find fault and have them slaughtered in his Brood versus Collection fights. Her children had been scoring well, getting up to a fourteen last time._

_He hadn't bred her in a while, and she could hear him speaking to some friends outside. They were drinking expensive drinks and one had a servant girl with him. She knew the Republic didn't allow slaves, from what she could remember, but the poor girl was essentially one. At one point, the girl had come up to the tank and gave her a sad look, and Temperance had stood up so she could place her hand against the glass where the servant girl put hers._

_The Master had told her to get away from the tank, and told Temperance to 'not get any funny ideas, Percy, love.'_

_She didn't have any plans to escape. Not at all. Her fate was accepted, she would die an obedient captive. The Master was kind to her, save for the murder of her children. She had a lovely tank with a comfortable nest, soft blankets and pillows, all the food she needed, and protective clothing. She huddled up in her nest and sighed. It'd be impossible to sleep with the Master and his friends all laughing and talking. She'd overheard them, they were going to spend the night._

_She tugged a blanket of fur over herself, and pulled her softest pillow under her head. Hugging another pillow, she closed her eyes._

-

Hux sat obediently in his tank. The bed was very comfortable, but he couldn't relax, wouldn't until he had Cypress back safely in his hands. It would be a few hours until the collector's friends arrived, Snip had told him, as they finished cleaning up the room. The older boy looked nervous while speaking to him, unnerved with how someone who looked so human was now a pet. Snatch had laughed seeing how awkward his brother was, playfully punching his shoulder and dragging him off to play a game in the lounge. They crashed onto the couch and turned on the holoscreen, and started up some kind of hologame. 

The two forgot he was there, and were soon laughing together, playfully shoving one another whenever they lost or made a dumb move. The game was some kind of shooter game, so there was a lot of explosions and gunfire out of the speakers. Overall, nothing like what real fighting was like.

Their father returned after a while of playing. "You boys did good. Having fun?"

"Yup!" Snatch said. Snip nodded, focused on fighting a main boss on the screen.

"That a Bor Gullet monster?" Their father looked at the screen. "And rathtars?"

"Sure is."

"We own both of those things, you don't need a game to look at 'em."

"You told us not to go near them. They'd eat us." Snatch pointed out. "Or make us lose our minds."

"They aren't very accurate."

"Artistic liberties. It's just a game." Rolling his eyes, Snatch focused on the game. He managed to land a critical hit on the Bor Gullet boss, and it ran for cover as Snip shot at the remaining rathtars. "Ha! We got it!"

"Alright, boys, shut off your game. There's a shuttle landing. Snip, you stay and keep an eye on the Allmother; Snatch, you'll come with me to greet our first guest.

-

As soon as Snatch and his father were back, with a group of people, Hux was alert. Cypress was being waved around like some sort of scepter, and they looked terrified. If only he'd noticed they were on him before he left, they wouldn't be in this situation, they wouldn't be hurt. He just had to be on his best behavior so they wouldn't get hurt any further. He had no doubt that the man would starve them to punish him, cut them to pieces like he promised. Forcing him to watch Cypress get hurt was his breaking in, and he'd definitely broken.

Ren would save him, so he had to stay resilient, keep their child alive until he came to free them. 

"And here's Starkiller, himself! Little Star's mother."

"Isn't that _General_ Starkiller?" A Rodian asked. "From the First Order?"

"It sure is. The one and only. My boys picked him up. Snip is a fantastic shot, he did so well at that military academy. Snip took him down, and Snatch found out he was an Allmother. He'll do well in the business." Snatch beamed at the praise, and Snip gave a small smile as well. 

Another was a human, dressed in fancy clothes. "Starkiller... I look forward to seeing how you might breed him. There are many who would love to see _Starkiller_ being ravaged by a creature, or helpless full of monsters."

"I own a fantastic Hosnian beast," the Rodian added in. "I'll let you borrow it, as long as I get the resulting offspring. You can do what you wish with the footage. Imagine that- General Starkiller gets bred by a creature whose homeworld he destroyed, and bears its offspring."

"I'm planning to take it easy for his first. A rathtar. I have a sweetheart of one in my collection that'll just love him, or her daughter. A pump of pheromones to get them riled, and it'll be a hit."

"Hmm, I wonder what sort of creature is Little Star's father." The human gave Cypress a curious look. "Perhaps an officer? A stormtrooper?"

"Maybe he slept with a superior to get promoted so early, had this one. Seraph, do you know?"

The man shrugged. He looked at Hux in the tank, "Hey, Starkiller, who's this little one's father?" He tossed Cypress in the air, and moved his other hand to rest on the knife hilt on his belt. "Eh?"

"Kylo Ren."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's the father of all my children."

Seraph whistled. "Fucking your co-commander. I see. He good looking under all that armor?"

"In a way."

"A way?"

"His personality leaves a lot to be desired, at times. Subtracts from his features."

"Hm. I've heard that force users are fickle things. Good thing we won't be dealing with him." Seraph looked at Cypress. "Aw, don't cry, little one. Your mum is doing well."

"It's a tasty looking thing, isn't it?" The third member of the group, a Mon Calamari, chuckled. "How much would you charge for it?"

Seraph glared at them, "It's not for sale. Starkiller won't breed well if I let you eat his babe."

"Why not?"

"How would you feel if someone ate your daughter, Representative?"

"My little girl?! I would be outraged, stricken with grief-"

"Exactly. He loves this creature, it's his baby. He birthed it, raised it. An Allmother has the strongest maternal instinct in the galaxy. They'd do anything for their children, killing it for such a pointless reason would destroy him. However..." Seraph went to his desk and lifted up the cut off leg from earlier. "I'll let you eat this. It's Little Star's leg. Not the main body, so it's fine."

"Ooh! Here-" The Mon Calamari handed over some credits, and gladly took the leg. They pulled out a lighter and twisted the leg over it, and then popped it into their mouth, chewing loudly. "Delicious!" Cypress squirmed, terrified, with fresh tears coming out of their eye.

Hux was horrified. Seraph noticed his expression and laughed. "Relax, Starkiller! I won't give our kind Representative any more. He won't be eating the rest of your baby."

"Oooh, if you ever cut off another leg, please call me! That taste is exquisite! Like nothing I've ever had before!"

"Of course, Representative."

The group stepped up to the tank to admire Hux. He kept his expression blank, looking at each of them before turning his gaze to Cypress. They blinked at him, fear in their eye. Mental images entered his head, and he tried to send back reassuring thoughts. He wasn't sure if it was working.

The human put their hand on the tank. "Astonishing... to think you have General Starkiller in your possession. Seraph, you always surprise me in the best of ways. First, an Angel for a wife, and now? A war criminal as a pet."

Seraph's expression darkened at the mention of the wife, and a quick look at Snip and Snatch showed that they looked sad too. Seraph quickly brightened, "Imagine my surprise when it turned out Starkiller was an Allmother! A dream come true, really, I had to keep him."

"How did you break him in so quickly? With just the creature?"

"Aye. He'll do anything to keep me from hurting his babe. I'm sure you all understand. I'd do the same for my boys."

"Hmm, that's true. My sons and daughters are everything to me... Anything, you say?"

"I want to break him in a bit more before testing anything too intense. See how tonight goes. You can have fun with him for a price after he has at least one batch of kids and I know he's adjusted."

-

It was hours before the group left, and Hux was on edge the whole time. After inspecting him through the glass, and turning around so they could get a full view, they started to lose interest. Then they moved on to suggesting all sorts of beasts that he could be bred by, all the ways Seraph could get film and distribute the footage. It made him feel sick hearing exactly how a rathtar was supposed to handle him, more so knowing that Cypress was hearing every word. 

Finally, when the last of the guests had taken off in their ships, Seraph returned with Cypress. The man went to his desk instead of to him, so Hux struggled to remain patient and quiet. He didn't want to blow everything by being impatient and upsetting his captor. Snip and Snatch left shortly after, being told to go to bed and not to stay up late like they did the night before chatting to each other.

Seraph sat at his desk and worked, typing things into a datapad and looking at various holographs of data and reports. He set Cypress down in a glass box with holes for air, and closed it. Hux decided he'd check out his new refresher to pass the time, making use of it and spending extra time fussing over his appearance in the mirror. After working for what seemed like hours, Seraph finally sighed and leaned back.

"Hey, Starkiller. You want your baby, don't you?" Hux had moved back to the bed, sitting cross legged and scratching at his blankets. 

"Yes."

"Mm, thought so. Well, you did a great job. My colleagues found you fascinating, and I earned some credits. I think I'll give it to the boys so they can buy themselves some new hologames." He stood up and left Cypress in the box. He walked over to the game console and holoscreen. He picked up the box the hologame chip was in. "Hmph. Wrath of the Knight. Fight an evil Knight and his horde of beasts as he seeks revenge for the loss of his beloved."

He went back to the desk and took out Cypress. "Ready to see your mum?" Hux forced himself to sit still on his bed, waiting for Seraph to bring in his child. Seraph unlocked the door to his tank and tossed Cypress to him. "Here you are, Starkiller."

Hux caught them and immediately curled around them on the bed. "Cypress... I'm so sorry..." He brought them up so he could kiss them. "We'll be alright, I promise. Mum's going to do everything he can to protect you. Until your father comes, I'll do my best. I'm here... don't be scared, everything will be okay."

Cypress squeezed their eye shut, latching onto his hand with their suckers. Hux pulled up his shirt and stuck Cypress in there. "You need to eat, darling."

Seraph closed the door, locking it. He went back to his desk, and muttered to himself, "Allmothers are the galaxy's best copycats."

-

_It'd been years since she was snatched from her peaceful home on a windy planet she'd long forgotten the name of, the planet where she'd been able to fly. Those days felt like a distant dream, and she rarely bothered to bring up the memories. She'd never be back in the wind, never feel the breeze in her hair and on her wings as she soared through the skies._

_Temperance had lost the will to live. She knew she would die soon. Either she would die after she lost another batch of children, or after a huge event. The Master had picked up that she was sad, and hadn't bred her in a while, trying to keep her alive for as long as possible. Without her, his primary source of income would be gone._

_Then the Master brought in a human man with lovely red hair, almost as red as her own, and she knew what she needed to do to be free at last._

-

Hux was permitted to keep Cypress for two more days, and when he woke up on his fourth day in captivity, Cypress was gone. Looking out, he could see Cypress was back in the glass box. Seraph was at his desk, looking at a holograph of a rathtar. He pressed a button, and the image changed to a different rathtar, an older one with scars on its tentacles. 

"Ah, Starkiller," Seraph said when he noticed Hux, "you're awake. I let you get a lot of sleep for the big day today. I'm just deciding which of my girls should have their wicked way with you. What do you think? Soul or Cranium? Soul is the mother, Cranium the daughter."

Soul was the scarred one, he figured, meaning she had been in fights and would be more intelligent and dangerous than her daughter, a young rathtar who had likely been spoiled in a tank. "Cranium."

"Good. Soul will be a grandmother once Cranium is through with you. I'll have her injected with heat pheromones now." 

-

Seraph had Snip pull him out of the tank, and promptly sprayed him in the face with something. The father-son duo led him down to an abandoned looking room with cameras in the corners. Snip was wary about touching him until Seraph said, "Don't worry, boy, you couldn't impregnate him if you tried."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. You're an Angel, and Angels can't mix with Allmothers. Shapeshifting species seem to work like that."

"Oh." Snip restrained him more tightly after that, holding his arms securely behind his back. "Okay."

There was a large door inside of the room, that looked to slide up rather than to the side. Snip pushed him into the room, and Seraph closed the door behind him. After a moment, the man's voice came into the room through a speaker on one of the cameras. 

" _In a moment, we'll be letting Cranium into the room. She's been on pheromones for twenty minutes now, so she's raring to see ya'. Now, you better put on a show, or I'll be calling up the Representative for two more of those legs, and you'll lose your nursing privileges for 30 standard days._ "

There was creaking from the door's mechanisms, and it slowly began to reel up. Soon, tentacles were scrabbling underneath it, desperate to get to him. Hux had a feeling whatever he'd been sprayed with was some sort of rathtar 'mate me' pheromones. 

Cranium was making lots of noise, and the air smelled sickly sweet as time passed. The door opened up to her mouth, and it was dripping with saliva. As she screeched, it sprayed in. Hux pressed himself up against the opposite wall, looking over the room to see what he could use to defend himself.

There were some pieces of cloth, a ripped sheet, a metal broom, and a hunk of plastoid that looked sharp.

Perfect, he had a plan. Seraph had ordered him to put on a 'show', but hadn't specified what he was supposed to do exactly. He just hoped Cypress wouldn't be punished for it. While he needed to keep them safe, he couldn't get impregnated by some beast. He didn't want any child that wasn't Ren's.

He lifted up the metal broom, and waited, tense. Cranium screeched, trying to force herself under the door. She looked like she was hurting herself, too big to fit through just yet, but trying anyways. 

She finally squeezed through, and launched herself in. Hux jumped out of the way, and she crashed against the wall where he'd just been. 

Seraph spoke over the rathtar's noises. " _And here we have General 'Starkiller' Hux facing off with Cranium, a newly matured and female rathtar, live. Starkiller has been sprayed with the rathtar mating pheromone, and Cranium is jacked up on heat pheromones. She wants to breed him more than anything, now._ "

This was a live broadcast, then. Figuring out that he would just jump out of the way if she threw herself, Cranium grabbed at Hux with her tentacles before moving close. She slammed him against the floor to daze him, and squeezed him. She brought him close to her, feeling him all over and inspecting everything, and he stabbed the broom into her mouth. She choked on it and released him, flailing.

He dropped to the ground, and got up. He quickly grabbed the plastoid piece, glad his gloves were keeping it from cutting his hands. Right as he grabbed it, Cranium pulled the broom from her throat and threw it with enough force to drive it into the wall. She grabbed him, howling, and rolled across the room. She settled in the middle, and held him at a distance. She figured out how to get a tentacle into his shirt, and wrapped him up

She turned him upside down, trying to find a way inside of him, since going under his shirt revealed nothing. She lifted him over her body, eyes looking directly at him. Seeing his mouth, she moved a tentacle to his face. She touched the mask, and realized she could move it. Hux stabbed at the tentacle around his waist with the plastoid, and she shrieked. As her hold loosened, he drove it down into her eyes, using his body weight to push it in as she let him go. 

He hit the floor, and Cranium thrashed, making a horrible, pained wail. The creature slowed down, and the wail faded. She finally went limp.

So, the brain was underneath the eyes. He'd keep that in mind in case Seraph wanted to chance him with the mother. He sat up, gasping. His heart was pounding.

The door opened, and Seraph and Snip looked in. Seraph looked angry, and Snip was nervous. Hux got up and went to the door. They let him out, and Snip grabbed his arms. 

"What was that?!"

"You told me to put on a show. It's not every day someone kills a rathtar by themselves."

Seraph was furious. Snip spoke up, "He's right, Father. You didn't order him to be bred, just to put on a show." He immediately shrunk after speaking. Seraph took a deep breath to calm himself, not wanting to yell at his son.

"I suppose I did not. I'll make myself clear next time. Alright, I'll let Soul eat her daughter's body, and then have a crew clean up the room. It'll be bloody, but they won't have to drag out a corpse, and it'll cut back on costs for feeding Soul for a while." He squeezed Hux's chin in his hand, "You'll still be punished, but not too badly. I'm a fair man. You can keep feeding privileges, but you've lost your privilege to keep Little Star with you during the night until you breed properly."

Depressing, but at least he'd be able to keep Cypress fed every day. "Of course."

"Good. Let's get you back in your tank."

-

_Temperance sat on the edge of her nest and swung her legs. The Master was injecting a redheaded man with some kind of drug, surrounded by his friends. The man was shouting all sorts of vulgar things, something about a military of sorts. She wasn't sure what the military was, some part of whatever political system ruled, she assumed. It didn't matter anyways. She'd use this man to earn her freedom._

_The drug, of course, was an aphrodisiac. The Master was quite fond of the potent aphrodisiac one of the collection produced, using it to subdue those he didn't like. Somewhere, he'd even trapped a young man using it. She'd had to impersonate him once, with a few twists to torment the man's father._

_She watched as the redheaded man stopped struggling. The Master mentioned her quite a bit, but again, it didn't matter. She'd accept him into the tank without a fuss, and enact her plan. Once the man was whining and pliant, the Master hauled him up and brought him to her tank._

_"Percy, I want you to show this silly military boy a good time. He's been quite distressed, make sure to calm him down." To his friends he said, "Did you know Allmothers can conceive in multiple wombs at once?"_

_"Fascinating!"_

_It wouldn't happen. She stayed perched on her nest, watching the redheaded man stumble in. The door closed. When the human man spotted her, she gestured for him to come closer. He came near, and she removed her mask, shifting her face into a human one. Best to make him comfortable, and not scare him off with her usual mandibles._

_He dropped down to his knees in front of her, face flushed and pupils blown wide. She took his face in her hands and looked at him. He would do just fine. It helped that they had similar hair color, she'd always liked her red hair and wanted to pass it down someday, but knew it was impossible unless her mate shared the color._

_It was easy enough to let him find relief with her if she ignored it and focused on her means of escape. She would not run, of course, the thought was mad. All she needed was a week, and the redheaded man would escape and take her with him._

_Oh, and then she'd be free, and give him the ticket she'd use._

-

Cypress sent him awful imagery through his thoughts, flashes and numbers and glitches to show how horribly upset they were. To show their fear, they blended images together in macabre collages of which he had no idea how Cypress had managed to come up with the contents. Ren must have shown them memories from battles, with all the gore the child could conjure.

He'd have to tell him to stop that, and show them educational stories instead. He had plenty of holorecords about the Empire, surely the children would find them interesting. There were a few ones that mentioned Darth Vader he could persuade Ren into taking. 

Thinking about Ren made him realize how much he missed him and the children, even if it'd only been a few days. As soon as he got back he was going to gather all the kids up and hug them, and hug Ren, too.

Seraph tossed in Cypress every so often, and as soon as he saw that Cypress was done eating and out of Hux's shirt, he'd come over and take them back. If Seraph wasn't the one to toss in Cypress, it was Snip, who let him keep Cypress for longer periods of time, before coming into the tank, looking guilty, to take them.

-

_The redheaded man stayed with her in her tank, even after the drugs wore off. He didn't try to escape when the Master opened the door to give them both food, biding his time. He seemed intelligent, and spoke to her about an Academy and his position as the head of the school. She liked that he wasn't being cruel to her, and wasn't treating her like she was stupid, even if she wasn't really listening to him at all._

_She just didn't really care about whatever the 'Empire' was._

_She listened when he put down the Master, just because that was interesting and he got so livid that his face turned a silly shade of pink that went nicely with his hair. She had to hold back a laugh at him whenever it happened. He noticed her snickering and scowled._

_"What's so funny about that awful man?"_

_"Nothing. You're just silly."_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"Your face. It's all pink. Humans are so silly looking sometimes." He looked offended. "I like your hair. It's very red."_

_"Not as red as yours."_

_"No." She looked down at her stomach. It was already rounded out. "Hey, do you like kids?"_

_"I work at a school, I have to."_

_She rolled her eyes. "No, like... Your own."_

_"I have none. My wife is infertile."_

_"Well..." She lowered her voice, "I'm going to get us out of here. You have to promise to take us with you."_

_"Us?" She pointed at her belly. "No-"_

_"It's not our faults. Master's going to hate this. I'm going to die soon after I give birth, and Master knows it, so if we get out we won't be followed."_

_He furrowed his brows, and she was amazed at how expressive humans were. She'd never shifted eyebrows for herself before. No need, with her bangs covering over half of her face. "Why are you going to die?"_

_"Because the worst feeling in the whole galaxy is watching your baby die, and I've felt that too many times to bear. I'm going to give up my life to have this child, and you have to promise to take care of it."_

_"I..." He looked conflicted. "I promise. You know, I've been here for three days, and I don't even know who you are."_

_She extended her upper left hand to him. He took it and she shook. "I'm Temperance, a mechanic."_

_"Brendol Hux, Commandant."_

_"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Commandant."_

_"You too, mechanic." She beamed at him._

_What a pity, she thought, as Brendol launched into some amusing story from his youth, that she'd die. Brendol could have been her friend._

-

Seraph wanted to breed him with Soul a few days later. The large rathtar had consumed her child and slept for an entire cycle, and was full of energy. The perfect time to have her breed with him, she would be far too powerful for him to overcome.

The collector showed him a holograph of Soul next to a person, and Hux realized that she was far bigger than the other one had been, far bigger than he even knew rathtars could grow to.

"Beautiful, isn't she? She's ancient. From the time of the Old Republic. When galactic wide war was unheard of. I bought her from a research facility, they were trying to calculate how old she was until she went wild. They guessed, ah... 200 years, then? I've had her for near to thirty, now. She'll definitely hurt you, so I've got some bacta and a medical droid prepared. A full tube, since she's bound to crush you."

He absolutely could not get in the same room as that beast. Not when he knew just how large and powerful she was. He had no doubt that she'd be able to breed him in minutes, would break his bones to keep him still and squeeze him near to death.

Seraph opened the door to his tank. "Come on out, and we'll go meet her." He didn't move off of the bed. Seraph frowned at him. "Come on, now, pet, don't be like this." He scowled with the nickname.

Seeing that he wasn't budging, Seraph moved aside. "Snip, go get him out here. Rough him up if you want, he'll be dunked in a tube later."

"Yes, father."

Snip stepped into the tank, and brought up his fists. He kept his eyes trained on Hux, and Hux remembered something Seraph had said. Snip didn't know the business because he had gone to an academy. He was trained in fighting. It'd be difficult to drive him off, though he suspected if he at least landed a blow, Serpah would pull the boy out. He stood up.

"Out out, Starkiller. Come on," his voice lowered, "Snatch and I don't like when Father punishes your baby. Please?"

"I refuse."

"Oh." Snip sighed. "Well, here we go-" Snip tried to grab him, and he dunked out of the way, aiming a punch at him. Snip blocked him. 

He tried to remember what he'd learned during the Academy, but Snip was very good at defense. Snip started fighting back, forcing Hux to dodge. Much to his dismay, Snip landed a few punches. He stunned him with a punch that knocked the air out of him, a blow just under his ribs. Then he grabbed him, and jammed his fingers into his mouth. 

Hux bit down on his fingers. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, but Snip didn't make a sound. He pushed him forward. "Move, Starkiller."

He slammed his head back into the boy's face, and then bit down harder to keep him from pulling his hand away when he reeled back.

"Damn-!"

"Enough!" Seraph entered, and there was a pinch of pain on his arm as the man stabbed him with a syringe. He injected something into him, a sickly pink substance that made his whole arm tingle within seconds. "You shouldn't have done that, Allmother. No one hurts my boys." Snip yanked his hand away, and let Hux go.

"I will _not_ bear children for you."

"Well. You're a terrible mother, then. Funny, Allmothers are supposed to do anything for their babies. Did the Order beat that out of you? Snip, you and your brother can keep Little Star if you want. If it's still in that box in an hour, or ever again after that, I'm killing it."

His whole body felt tingly. As Seraph took Snip's elbow to go get his hand tended to, Hux went up to the glass to watch. If Snip didn't take Cypress as a pet, then he really would be a terrible mother. Seraph sat Snip down at his desk, and pulled out a medikit. He cleaned and bandaged the wound, making sure to get any germs out and plenty of bacta on.

He let out of sigh of relief when Snip took Cypress out of the box and took him when he left. They'd take care of him well. Or Snatch would, at least, being the one to know more about creatures.

Everything felt like it was getting hotter, so he went into his small 'fresher and climbed into the empty tub. He curled up in it, suspecting that the drug was some sort of aphrodisiac, meant to make him wish that he'd gone along with the breeding, to punish him. Seraph had already had it on him, so he probably would have been given it anyways, just to numb him up and take his mind off of Soul crushing all his bones.

By the time the heat was unbearable, he found that the water in the tub wouldn't turn on past a little ice cold trickle. It would be useless to try to cool himself off. Since he had some sense of reason left, so he drank what he could. He was sweating, so he needed his fluids.

-

Sometime later he passed out, and he woke up to the faucet spurting freezing water at him, full strength. He sat up, gasping. His whole body was overheated and aching, and his head was pounding. He looked up to see Seraph, holding some kind of stun. "Starkiller, get up." With some difficulty, he stood up. "I'm showing you off to a client in ten minutes. Clean yourself up."

"What happened to Cypress?"

"Well, wouldn't you like to know? Should have thought of that before you hurt my boy."

-

_The Master was furious when he found out what she'd done. Temperance merely huddled up in the corner and held her baby protectively. It was crying, unhappy with all the yelling. She was scared, but tried to comfort herself with the knowledge that this was part of the plan. The Master needed to get a bit more aggravated, activate his shock wand, and then Brendol would get them out._

_"You useless monstrosity! You knew that if you had an Allmother you were going to die!"_

_"You can't have my baby!"_

_"I can have whatever I want! I'll take that brat and it'll be my new broodmare the second its organs start to function! I'll kill you before you have a chance to die by yourself! You and that imperial you're so fond of!" She wasn't terribly fond of Brendol, since he wasn't nice anymore now that the baby was born._

_The shock wand turned on, and he cranked it to the highest setting. Visible electricity came off of it. At the same time, Brendol spotted the sharpened hunk of plastoid she'd snagged a few days ago. He grabbed it. As the Master drove the wand down towards her, Brendol grabbed the plastoid._

_The Master froze, looking down at the point jutting through his chest. "Per...cy..."_

_Her baby stopped crying._

-

The guest found him fascinating, and he was feeling too horrible to get mad when they spoke about him like he wasn't there. Seraph sold them some sort of creature afterwards, and then he was put back in his tank.

An alarm went off at Seraph's desk.

-

_Brendol pulled her along to a small ship. Temperance looked around as they went. Though she'd seen the hallways of her Master's large estate many times, it suddenly looked foreign to her. They passed some cages with animals in them, and she briefly wondered what would happen to them now that the Master was gone. The workers would sell them, most likely, or turn them over to the authorities._

_Perhaps the young man she once impersonated would be freed at last._

_As they entered the ship, Brendol ordered her to sit in the copilot seat and not do anything. He flew the ship off of the planet, and Temperance marveled at all the stars. The ship jumped into hyperspace, and she hoped that her baby would be able to see as many of the stars as they wanted when they grew up._

_Brendol eventually relaxed, the ship's navicomputer set to a planet called Arkanis. She'd never heard of it. The baby started fussing, so she bounced them on her knee. Brendol looked over. She could tell he was worried she might just suddenly die. She had a few days, at least._

_"What will you name the child?" He asked, instead._

_"I'm from the line of virtues, so I think I'll name them Armitage." The baby squirmed, not seeming to like their new name. "Armitage Hux."_

_"My wife is going to throw a fit when I return with you and him."_

_"She will not have to deal with me. I just want to play with Armitage until I die in a few days. Promise you'll take care of him?" He'd already promised, but she wanted to hear it again._

_"I'm a very busy man. Some droids will do."_

_"Droids are nice." She'd always liked droids. "Do you like droids?"_

_"They're machines."_

_"But we're all machines. The only difference is that we're organic machines, while they are metal."_

_"You're very strange."_

_"I think you're very strange, too, Mr. Commandant."_

_"You'd never fit in well with the Empire, perhaps it's good that you're going to die."_

_"Perhaps. I don't care for politics." Before he could go on another rant about the glory of the Empire, she continued. "But I think Armitage will. You can make sure of it, shape him to be the perfect organic machine. Whatever you like."_

-

Seraph shouted a few choice curses, and then commed his sons, telling them to come up with Cypress. He took Hux out of the tank and fastened handcuffs on him. They were tight, but he had a feeling they wouldn't be on for much longer.

As the minutes passed, Seraph got more and more agitated. He pulled out a blaster and held it to Hux's head as soon as the familiar hum of a lightsaber came into earshot. Hux had never been so glad to hear that sound before.

Seraph had locked the door, but it tore itself off of its hinges and was thrown by the Force. As Ren stepped in, Seraph pulled Hux back, keeping the blaster on him.

Ren was wearing a helmet, and Hux wished that he could see the expression on his face. " _Let him go._ " 

"Absolutely not! He belongs to me!"

He didn't want this to be a huge monologue, so he faked collapsing to his knees. Ren caught Seraph in a Force choke, and the man let Hux go, dropping his blaster. Ren walked up and stabbed Seraph with his lightsaber. He tossed the man's body to the side, and then dropped down next to Hux. "Are you okay?"

Hux wanted to hug him, and would have, if he wasn't handcuffed. "Yes, I'm fine. Get these off?" He held up his wrists. Ren used his lightsaber to cut them off. They dropped to the floor, and Ren rubbed his wrists where a pink line had already begun to form. Hux pulled his hands away so that he could hug him. 

Ren was startled, but then hugged him back. "I was... the kids and I were worried about you."

"We have to find Cypress! There's two boys here, they have him!"

There were footsteps, so Ren ignited his lightsaber again. Snatch skidded to a halt in the doorway to the lounge. "Father? What's going-" He froze seeing them, and then he spotted the body. "Oh, stars." 

Cypress was in his hand. Snatch held him close. "Um- um... Kriff, I knew he deserved it, but- oh, wow... Oh, uh- Here!" Snatch held out the hand with Cypress in it. "He's yours, Allmother, take him!"

Ren bristled, not trusting him, but Hux went up. He took Cypress from Snatch. The child had some new bandages on him. Snatch was trembling. "S-sorry, I dropped it earlier. I tried to fix it up, but- um... I'm just going to go to Soul- sorry!" Snatch turned and ran.

Hux went back to Ren, cradling Cypress. The child sent them both feelings of warmth and happiness, dotted with flashes of what they'd been through. Ren put on his helmet and grabbed his hand, and then they left. Down the hall Ren had come in through, they came face to face with Snip. He was holding a sleek blaster, and aimed it at them.

"Where's my brother?"

"Who?" Ren got ready to fight him, but Hux squeezed his hand.

"He went to Soul."

Snip nodded, and lowered his blaster. He walked past them, not looking at them at all. "Run home, Allmother. Before the monsters Dad let loose find you."

-

_Temperance played with her baby in the small room Brendol had put her into. Armitage wasn't the happiest baby, but he did like to play with her. He especially liked it when she shapeshifted her hands and face. She was getting weaker each day._

_She woke up one morning and knew that it was her last. She left her room, taking a still sleeping Armitage with her. It was horribly quiet in the house. Brendol had his work at the Academy, so only his wife and a few house keepers were in the residence. She crept up to the main bedroom._

_Brendol's wife was asleep in the bed. Temperance approached her and gently shook her shoulder. "Miss Maratelle?"_

_Maratelle woke up, and startled seeing her. She realized who she was and then calmed down, sitting up. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"_

_"Hello. Here!" She handed Armitage to her. "This is Armitage! I'm going to die in a few hours, so I thought I'd give him to you."_

_"Why are you going to die?"_

_"I've been through a lot, and I can't physically take it anymore. Take care of him for me, okay? Or at least get him a good nanny droid. I think I'd prefer the droid."_

_Maratelle looked down at the baby uneasily. "Alright. I'll order a droid. Will you be alright before you pass?"_

_"Yes. I am going to sleep. Goodbye, Miss Maratelle. Goodbye, Armitage. I will watch over you after I am gone."_

-

They didn't encounter any monsters on their way back to the ship, but a glance out the viewport revealed that there was some sort of feline beast attacking a smaller, more insect like creature in a small arena. Ren pulled them both onto his shuttle and quickly took off. Hux sat down on Ren's lap instead of in the copilot's seat. Ren pressed his helmet to Hux's mask.

"It's time to go home."

**Author's Note:**

> You guys haven't seen the last of Snip, Snatch, and Soul ! ;^)  
> Nor have you seen the last of the Allmother Line of Virtues  
> Follow/talk to me on Tumblr! @Oblioknowlton or @Tinybibmpreg


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